DE 3 707 366 A1 discloses a process which is intended for the continuous mechanical cleaning of everyday crockery and in the case of which the crockery which is contaminated with bits of food is doused with water in a prewashing cycle or a prewashing zone. Following the prewashing zone or the prewashing cycle, the crockery passes into a washing zone or a washing cycle, where it is sprayed with a metered washing liquor, which comprises preheated water to which a detergent has been added. Consequently, in particular dried-on or baked-on bits of food are swollen and detached.
In a clear-washing zone, which follows the washing zone or the washing cycle, and in a rinsing zone, the detached bits of food are then removed together with the washing liquor.
In order to reduce the resulting waste-water contamination and to achieve better cleaning of the crockery, a highly concentrated detergent solution is sprayed onto the crockery in finely distributed form in the washing zone and, after a certain contact time, is washed off in the clear-washing and rinsing zone together with the detached bits of food.
In addition to the processes for cleaning everyday crockery, processes for cleaning reusable drinks containers are also known. The known reusable drinks containers, in particular glass and plastic bottles, undergo intensive cleaning before being refilled. And this cleaning operation has to satisfy the stringent requirements as laid down by food regulations. In the case of automatic filling installations, cleaning and filling of the drinks containers generally takes place in a self-contained installation. The known installations generally comprise a transporting device for the crates which contain the bottles, a device for unpacking the bottles and unscrewing the closure elements, a device for tracing, in the bottles, residues of substances which are a health hazard, this device also being known as a sniffer, a machine for cleaning the bottles, a filling device, a device for screwing on the closure caps, and a device for packing the bottles into the crates and for transporting the bottle crates.
In the case of the known standard cleaning processes, cleaning of the reusable drinks containers takes place exclusively in the cleaning machine, which usually contains up to three lye baths. The concentration of NaOH therein is between 1.0 and 3.0% by weight, between 0.05 and 1.0% by weight of additives being metered into the lyes in order to stabilize hardness and to assist cleaning. Although such standard cleaning processes have proven successful in practice, there is a risk, in particular in the case of cleaning reusable plastic bottles made of PET, PEN and PC, that dirt which cannot readily be dissolved or else microorganisms such as mould and yeast is/are only partially removed in a cleaning machine, if at all.